90% Of All English Speakers Can't Pronounce Every Word In This Poem. Can You?

It is often said that English is one of the hardest languages to learn. Many of us take English for granted as our first language, but with the world becoming more globalized, many are starting to take on learning English as a second or third language. One of the greatest difficulties for those learning English is that for every rule, there seems to be at least a dozen exceptions to it. Even some of the most common English words can seem confusing. For example, a hamburger does not inherently contain ham, nor is a pineapple a type of apple.

The following is a poem entitled “The Chaos” by Gerard Nolst Trenite. As a Dutch immigrant, Gerard spent years studying the English language and all its weird quirks. In 1922, he wrote this poem as a way to demonstrate all the anomalies of the language.

Even for those that have spoken English their entire lives, the proper pronunciation of this entire poem can prove to be difficult.